I have another goal to visit all 50 state capitol buildings in the US. Even though I’ve visited all 50 states, I’m still lagging behind on the capitals. Colorado was the first capitol building I visited after making it to every state. It has the typical state capitol design that was popular in the late 1800s. The building was completed in the 1890s, just a few decades after Denver became a city.
Right in front of the capitol building is Denver’s Civic Center. This area has a lot going on, from art institutions, gardens, and statues to a Greek-style amphitheater and government buildings. I was in Denver over the July 4th weekend, and the Civic Center seemed like one of the most popular places to watch the fireworks. I had prepared to come here on July 4th itself, which was a Saturday—a perfect day for fireworks! For some reason Denver thought July 3rd made more sense, and I found out there was no show on the 4th!
Denver is a well-known city with a modern downtown filled with restaurants, shops, and high-rise buildings. These photos above and below were taken just outside the capitol building.
The city center has a large strip where much of the action is. I had lunch here with my friend who traveled with me, and we got a crazy rundown of the city from our waitress. Aside from describing secret underground prisons in Denver and her own run-in with the law, she pointed out all the hot spots and places of interest nearby. The lunch I had, by the way, was this salad below from an Irish restaurant. It looks like you get to mix the salad yourself here.
I came across this bragging bull while walking through the city center. It lists some of the reasons people love Denver, including its huge park system and famously sunny climate. It also mentions Denver’s enormous airport. Located near the center of the country, Denver has long been an important hub for flights. I’d actually been through Denver International Airport at least ten times before I finally got out and saw the city!
This part of Denver had a mix of all kinds of people. The plastic-bucket drummer above and the skateboarding kid below were both photographed on the same block.
One of the best things about this part of Denver is its convenient public transportation. We had rented a car, but still took advantage of the bus to get around downtown while using the car for longer distances. Denver also has a light-rail system, with one of the trains photographed below.
Denver is known as an active outdoor city, and its extensive network of parks and trails gives residents plenty of opportunities to exercise without ever leaving the city.
I didn’t see too many homeless people in Denver during my visit, but like any major city there were some people asking for money. This couple above didn’t look homeless to me, but while they were sleeping they had a sign asking for money followed by a short Happy July 4th message. I took this photo as I walked with my friend from downtown toward Denver’s City Park.
Denver is famous for its museums and art institutions. Of course it’s nearly impossible to visit them all, but I thought the Denver Museum of Nature & Science was excellent. It’s a massive complex covering so many subjects that it felt almost Smithsonian-class to me and is definitely worth visiting while you’re in the city.
Before I visited the museum, I had assumed it mostly covered Colorado. Instead, the museum explores an enormous range of subjects. They even have exhibits dedicated to space exploration. Above is a recreation of what the surface of Mars might look like.
Another large part of the museum featured wildlife displays. I loved the moose above standing in front of a recreation of its natural habitat. The photo below shows a pack of wolves. There are many other animals on display from Colorado and around the world, along with exhibits covering subjects such as dinosaurs.
What I mostly wanted to see in the museum was what life had been like for Native Americans in Colorado. I was a bit disappointed because the exhibits seemed to cover cultures from across the country rather than focusing heavily on tribes from the region. Lots of Native American art and artifacts were on display, including the piece above.
These shoes on display show some of the different styles worn by Native American peoples throughout the United States. The ones in the back looked appropriate for colder climates, while I thought the blue shoes on the right could probably be worn by someone today without getting any attention!
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is located at the eastern end of City Park. I had assumed there must be a more elaborate name for such a huge recreational area, but it really is simply called City Park. The park has a large lake, plenty of places for picnics and sports, and lots of other recreational space. The photo below shows kids playing in a fountain on a hot summer day.
This pond in City Park was dominated by cormorants. They had completely taken over a small island and seemed to outnumber the ducks and geese by ten to one. Cormorants are common birds that I’ve seen all over the world. When they swim with most of their bodies submerged, their long necks can give them an almost snake-like appearance.
The people playing volleyball were also in City Park. I came here with my friend on July 4th expecting to see the fireworks above the Denver skyline. Instead, this is about when we found out that the city’s fireworks had been the night before on July 3rd. We got a disappointing show from some neighboring suburbs instead, like the photo below. They were too far away to really see much and just appeared at random places over the trees. I still feel like July 4th on a Saturday was the perfect day for the celebration and don’t understand why they’d pick Friday!
Just outside Denver is Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. The place was a bit annoying to find during my visit, as my friend and I followed the directions on our phone and ended up on the wrong side of the refuge. There was no entrance there, so we drove around nearly the entire perimeter before finally finding our way in. From the outside, the place looked almost off-limits and I was seriously beginning to doubt whether it was even a wildlife refuge. Once inside, though, it was exactly as described, with different types of terrain and plenty of wildlife. Above is a boardwalk passing through some ponds filled with waterfowl, fish, and colorful dragonflies.
Prairie dogs are common throughout Colorado, and there are even city trails known for having large colonies nearby. The wildlife refuge was no exception. I saw dozens of them, including this one standing above its burrow.
I saw a ton of wildlife in the refuge, everything from small rabbits and deer to the hawk above. Possibly the highlight was seeing a herd of bison crossing the road below. The refuge is pretty large, though, so once the bison crossed the road they moved east into the plains and quickly disappeared from view. There are strict rules about staying in your car around the bison for safety, so the shot below was the best I got of them!
